


the day flings itself upon you

by brandywine421



Category: Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dragons, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-16 15:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16088591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: "Give me your hoodie," Jessica orders and Danny, bless him, strips out of it without question and holds it out expectantly.She swaps it with the bundle of red armor that she's swaddled the dragon in. "This is a cat, no matter what you think it looks like, it's a damncat. I found who we came here for but he's a little...little, at the moment," she adds. "Come here, Kid.""Oh wow. Okay. This is - oh wow," Danny repeats as she manhandles the hoodie over Matt's too-small shoulders.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 'Inspired' by [this prompt](https://daredevilkink.dreamwidth.org/9408.html?thread=18090176#cmt18090176) on the kinkmeme for deaging but veers off too much to count as a fill.  "Elektra and Matt are discovered in the ruins of Midland Circle. They're children. The powdered dragon bones saved and deaged them." 
> 
> You'll see right away where I veered off. I hope it's fun to read ('cause it's fun to write!).
> 
>  

_you must begin all over again_  
_throw all that out._  
_all of them out_

_you are alone with now._

_look at your fingernails._  
_touch your nose._

_begin._

_the day flings itself upon you._

 

"We can't just leave him down there," Claire says under her breath as they cluster at the edges of what used to be Midland Circle.

"We can't break out of police custody again," Luke replies.

Jessica catches Danny's look and passes the nod on to Claire.

They'll follow up since Luke's offering to face the cops again. "Cover for us?"

"Go, now, we'll tell them you went to the hospital," Colleen backs their play and Jessica slips into the crowd behind Danny.

* * *

  
She wishes she could say she remembered the service tunnels from the blueprints but it's pure luck for her to spot the movement in the dark.

A boy. He's dirty and bloody and swallowed in a black uniform that has to be one of the faceless assholes she spent the last few days fighting off.

It's alarming enough to see a boy in the perimeter of the rubble - especially this far underground - but she's more alarmed to see the puddle of red fetish gear pushed aside.

Oh shit.

"Who's there?" the boy calls, tilting his head enough that she catches the dim reflection of his vacant eyes. Oh Shit.

"Hey. You shouldn't be down her all alone," Jessica manages with a trembling voice.

Something hisses and the red eyes of - OH SHIT -

"I think it's a cat," the child whispers as a - fuck _you_ Iron Fist - dragon scurries across the beam of her phone's flashlight. "One of those hypoallergenic ones with no hair. She's smart, though. I followed her out."

The dragon meows with a daring glare at Jessica to disagree and curls her scaly tail around the boy's ankle. She noses at his ragged clothes caked with the blood of the dead man she took them from - the tiny claw-sized rips giving away the source.

"Sure. Hey, I'm Jessica. What's your name?" she asks, crouching down to get a closer look. God, how much confirmation does she need? Those big beautiful broken eyes - Baby Boy was a heartbreaker before he grew into it.

"I think something happened to me," he deflects. "I don't think this is right."

Her phone buzzes in her hand and the kid flinches. Jess definitely needs backup for this but she's walking on broken ice already. She keeps her movements slow and silences the texts. "I agree. I think I know who you are and I'd really like to get you out of here and start figuring out what happened."

The dragon nudges at his baggy shirt again and meows.

"I know who you are, too," Jessica snaps at the creature. "You did this to him - "

The boy shivers. "Are you talking to the cat?"

The dragon meows, smug.

Her phone buzzes with another message. "Okay. Matt."

He tilts his head. "You know my name?"

Gods, she wishes she didn't. "Yeah, kid. We're friends - sort of. I think something happened to you," she repeats his earlier phrasing. "We can't figure this out here, okay? You and - the cat - can come with me somewhere...safer."

_Please say yes, please say yes._

"Okay."

* * *

  
"Give me your hoodie," Jessica orders and Danny, bless him, strips out of it without question and holds it out expectantly.

She swaps it with the bundle of red armor that she's swaddled the dragon in. "This is a cat, no matter what you think it looks like, it's a goddamn _cat_. I found who we came here for but he's a little... _little_ , at the moment," she adds. "Come here, Kid."

"Oh wow. Okay. This is - _oh_ wow," Danny repeats as she manhandles the hoodie over Matt's shoulders.

"I don't do magic, do you? We have to get him off the streets," Jessica says.

Danny holds the dragon at arm's length and taps into his phone. "He gave me a number to call in case things went sideways, I'll send an update. Nelson's got a car waiting a couple of blocks over if we hurry."

"Wait, he gave you a number and you haven't used it yet?" Jessica boggles.

He glares at her and turns to Matt. "Hey. I'm Danny. Do you remember me?"

"Nope," Matt says flatly.

"Fair enough. And he gave me the number, oh, ten to fifteen seconds before the building blew up," Danny answers her.

"Convenient," she mutters.

"Take care of his city and make sure his body's not found inside the suit," Danny shrugs. "Seemed simple enough at the _time_ \- "

"Please give me the cat," Matt says, and Danny passes the bundle of dragon to him and continues walking.

"But I don't think we should tell anyone else until we figure out what this is all about," Danny picks up. He pauses suddenly and turns to look down at the kid. "Hey. Matt?"

He twitches inside the too-big hoodie. "Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you're okay and here with us. Okay?" Danny asks softly, squeezing his shoulder.

"Sure," Matt hesitates. "Okay."

"Okay," Jessica repeats but she has to admit the hapless millionaire may be better with kids than she is.

* * *

  
She recognizes the towering man from mainstream and conspiracy-themed media and steps aside to let Nick Fury into the apartment.

She's going to punch Danny Rand in the face when he gets back with the kid. It's bad enough that Nelson's five seconds from a heart attack already and hasn't acknowledged that the short blind child is his alleged best friend - plus he won't put down the broom with the 'cat' in the room. Now they have a publicly dead superspy? Fuck you, universe.

"Wait, don't I know you? The PA from Midtown, Talia, you dated him for - " Foggy starts but the blonde following Fury cuts his voice with her sharp glare.

"I warned him not to tell you anything. I'm sorry he didn't listen," she says coldly.

Jessica watches as Nelson's face twists with anger. She's never seen someone declare a mortal enemy in real time before.

"The Black Sky's a dragon. Of course she is," Fury grumbles and the dragon flares her wings to full span as if they can't just step over her.

"Anybody got a sword I can borrow?" Talia asks.

Jessica leans down and snatches the lizard by the 'scruff' of her neck and takes her out of the line of fire. "The kid won't like that. What do you know about the Black Sky?"

"You didn't mention any 'kids'," Fury frowns. "We had shit going down in Detroit, unrelated to this - "

"They took down the Hand tonight," Nelson says and both strangers freeze in place. "Still unrelated?"

"They resurrected the Black Sky, that means they win," Talia says, motioning to the dragon with narrowing eyes.

"She wasn't a dragon when we beat them," Jessica adds.

"No wonder people are shitting their pants - " Fury mutters.

"Where's Matt?" Talia snarls suddenly, snatching the dragon from Jessica's shoulder and holding her at eye level by the throat. The dragon hisses angrily but the woman shakes her forcefully. "What did you do to him, Bitch?"

Jessica doesn't make it to intervene before she slams the tiny dragon into the floor - and then she doesn't have to because Elektra's human and whole and sprawled on the bare floor.

Talia and Fury have guns pulled before Colleen's swords are fully extended but Foggy Nelson takes control before anyone moves. "Whoa whoa whoa! The fuck is wrong with you people?"

"I saved him," Elektra spits, swinging an arm out to grab a blanket to cover herself. "He was dying."

"I told you what would happen if you touched him again. Where is he?" Talia demands, unflinching with her gun pegged on Elektra.

"Dying?" Foggy whispers. "What did you do, Elektra? He buried you months ago - "

"He was dying - I gave him my blood," she holds out her scarred over wrist. "And his heartbeat - he started to heal - to recover but - it wasn't blood. We both - changed." She raises her wrist to her chest. "I live."

"And you're sometimes a dragon," Jessica states. "Is Matt going to sometimes be a dragon, too?"

Talia pulls a second gun, but Jessica can't fault her prep. "Where is he?"

Danny steps into the apartment with his hand on Matt's shoulder, wincing slightly with suspiciously neat red lines on both sides of his face. "You guys have to watch him with that cane." Jessica doesn't question it when she spots Danny holding the cane while the kid carries the bags.

"There are a lot of guns in your safe place," Matt says.

"Huh," Fury huffs, holstering his weapon and murmuring something to Talia who promptly manhandles Elektra into the other room. He approaches Matt and crouches down to his level.

"Agent Fury?" Matt asks, wrinkling his face in confusion.

Colleen moves to Jessica's side and whispers, "How the hell does he know him and none of us?"

"Hey, Kid. It's been a long time, surprised you remember me. Still got your Daddy's grip, don't you?" Fury asks softly, shaking his tiny hand.

Matt shifts his posture and Jessica notices Danny shoving the cane out of his reach. "How long is a long time? Because nothing makes sense. It's impolite to ask what happened to your eye, but where's your hair?"

"We met before your father passed. What do you remember after that? Orphanage? Blind ninja assholes that should have minded their own business?"

"I remember all of that," Matt replies quickly. "Is this because of Stick?" Jessica bites back a gasp when she realizes how small Murdock was when that old bastard got to him.

Fury keeps his voice gentle and it actually seems to work. "We're going to figure that out. I know you don't trust me but these people are your friends and they'll do right by you until we find out what happened."

"You're not a dragon anymore," Matt says when Elektra returns, decked out in a slinky minidress that probably has a designer label.

"Thought it was a cat," Foggy snorts.

"Dragons aren't real," Matt replies. "She still smells like orchids."

Elektra embraces Matt and begins murmuring urgently to him. Danny pointedly doesn't take his hand off the boy's shoulder.

"Matt hoards his ex's clothes," Talia says before Jessica can ask where Elektra got the makeover. "I'm still not allowed to kill the bitch, but we'll take her off your hands," she adds under her breath.

"Seems like you have a history with her, is that a good idea?" Colleen asks but Jessica doesn't mistake it for concern. She knows Danny's girl would like Elektra's head for herself.

"People get second chances when they don't deserve them all the time. If she saved Matty, that puts her on my tab," Talia says.

"What's your history with 'Matty'?" Jessica questions. "You got clothes in his closet?"

"Get him back and ask him yourself. But Elektra's not the only woman that lost him because of Foggy Fuckhead over there," Talia hisses. Nelson flips her the bird. "Eat me."

"Romanoff. Take her to the car and start making calls," Fury barks at her. He stalks over to Jessica. "Can your people take care of him? Money, housing, food - "

"We got it," Danny answers from across the room where Matt's blankly 'watching' the space where Elektra disappeared with the Black Fucking Widow.

"I'll send some fake papers and hit up some sources. Most aging spells wear off but dragons and mystical ninja societies - it's not my normal beat so no promises on timeline," Fury says. He followed the women out of the apartment with a whirl of his coat.

"Are all his exes scary and hot?" Colleen asks when the red alert drops back to yellow.

"He does seem to have a type," Danny says. "That was a lot all at once, buddy, you okay?"

Matt shakes his head slightly. "I'm going to take a bath and change clothes. Excuse me." He's too young to hide the emotions like he does as an adult and she finds herself tailing him instinctively into the bedroom.

"Mind some company?" Jess asks.

"Not even the Sisters get to watch me bathe, weirdo," Matt says flatly.

She hops onto the sink and settles in. "That's what the curtain's for. I'm worried about you."

"From what I can tell, you don't really know me," Matt replies. "The only person that knows their way around this apartment, mine apparently, is the guy that doesn't want to be here. The rest of you seem to think you owe me something, so if the creepy government agent thinks this will wear off - adult me would probably tell you all to fuck off for a few days and leave me be."

"You're lucky you're cute. Fact is, it doesn't matter what you want today. You have enough memories to know how that works," she replies easily. She won't let him get to her, and she will be asking Foggy Fuckhead to leave. If he's projecting enough vibes to turn off the kid then he shouldn't be here.

"Things sound different now, I'm not used to it yet. The car exhaust, the phones - even your whiskey doesn't smell like I remember," he admits. "I need time to focus, to meditate."

Jessica nods, folding her legs underneath her to signal she still isn't leaving.

He sighs heavily and raises a hand to brace himself against the wall. "Please. Five minutes?"

* * *

 

"I don't know why the Black Widow hates me, but 'Natalia' wanted to whisk Matt off to California to be her arm candy and he would have *hated* that," Foggy's saying when she returns to the main room.

"So he doesn't have any of your dresses hanging in the closet? Because if he's got more exes in the woodwork - " Jessica joins his conversation.

"Claire dumped him so you should be fine," he waves her off.

Colleen's face flashes with some kind of understanding before she winces. "Okay, that's not completely fair but we'll make a note of it."

"The kid's not stupid," Jessica sighs. "And his hearing's still totally invasive, but he knows that you don't want to be here," she tells Foggy. "He picked up that you're the only one of us that knows your way around the place and that you don't want to talk to him, big or small."

"You don't even know him!" Foggy blurts out.

"Which is good because we won't hold his adult sins against him," Danny says quietly. "You're too angry at Daredevil to see Matt."

She wonders if the lawyer's head will explode if he turns any redder. "He's a child, he doesn't need to hear anything about the devil right now."

"Um, he lives with a bunch of nuns, pretty sure he hears about the devil all the time," Jessica drops in.

"We're all a little wrung out," Colleen clears her throat. "Mr. Nelson, we've got things under control for now and we could all use some time to think about things. Let's meet in the morning when we have a better handle on how to move forward."

Go Colleen.

"Fine," he deflates. "I'll check in before that. Thank you for looking after him." He seems genuine and she'll take it.

"We'll have lots of questions for you tomorrow, but the kid's spooked," Jessica says, walking him to the door. "I mean, imagine if your tweener self woke up in your current apartment - well, maybe that wouldn't be a downer for a fancy lawyer like you but I think he's having some issues with it."

"Oh, good, it's just a normal existential crisis because he's totally okay with his dragon pet turning into his dead ex-girlfriend," Foggy blinks at her. "Fuck you. I'm bringing pancakes and billing Rand. Don't call anyone or make any statements - Karen, Trish and Claire are handling it with the cops and media."

She waits until he disappears down the stairs to slam and deadbolt the door. She pushes a hand through her hair. "The hell do we do now?"

Danny sinks onto the couch. "I have the least responsibilities and the most funds out of everyone. I'll take lead on this. I mean, I know you're the girl on the team and everything but you're not really that 'motherly'."

"He's very talented at offending people in all different kinds of ways," Colleen sighs.

"The kid doesn't need a mother, but he could use some friends. He's smart as shit and he's probably listening to everything we say. Speaking as an orphan who was a lot more prickly than this one - let's give him the lead on this."

Danny circles his hand in the air. "Fine, that was my plan anyway."

"I'll warn everyone off on my way to the hospital, I'll be back in the morning with whatever Danny tells me to bring," Colleen tells Jessica with an exhausted smile.

She's just lowered her ass to the couch when the kid, Matt, steps out of the bedroom in loose sweatpants. His bare chest is bruised to shit and decorated with a patch of painfully neat stitches.

"I can't do my back," he says quietly with a tiny first aid kit in his hands.

"Yeah, that's not your superpower, Matty. I'm going to call you that to keep it straight in my head, okay?" Danny pats the couch beside him. "Adult-you would kick my ass for it but I think he'll understand my reasoning."

"I'll just call you 'Daniel' then," Matt replies dryly.

She bites back a laugh at Danny's expression but she does understand his reasoning. It's a nice try to break the tension of young Matt wearing his adult version's wounds.

"I thought Elektra healed you," Jessica says, fetching the larger first aid kid they'd found earlier and delicately covering the stitches.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense when I try to remember. Everything hurt and then she kissed me and, it's like, I knew we were both going to be all right but - then I woke up and nothing was all right. There was black slime in my mouth, all over me and it was worse than tar, worse than anything," he admits in a rush. "But I heard another heartbeat, and the orchids and - I followed her out where you found me. Nothing's broken, like, I know things were broken before. It doesn't hurt to breathe now," he adds.

"Well that's certainly promising, Punk," Jessica says.

"I'm not going to put in stitches, Matty, these butterfly bandages should do and we'll check them in the morning," Danny says as he gently tends to the cuts on his back and shoulders. "Were you able to meditate at all?"

"Two heartbeats are easier for me to filter, maybe when you both fall asleep I can get a lock on it," Matt says. "Everyone was fine when Elektra was a dragon but it got really loud when she was a lady."

"We don't hurt people that aren't trying to hurt us. She's tried to hurt us before," Danny says.

"Agent Nick came to see my Dad after I went blind, offered to run tests and stuff to see if the chemicals messed with my brain. Dad didn't trust him," Matt says.

"You were a kid, Elektra is a grown woman. Dragon. Whatever. She can handle herself," Jessica replies.

"All done," Danny says. "Elektra's fine - she had a heartbeat when you hugged her, right?"

"Yeah," Matt agrees. "She wasn't scared."

"We're all healthy and alive tonight, let's not push our luck," Jessica adds, nudging him and earning a soft smile.

* * *

  
_"I wish I could've looked at these last night but some things never change. I know we're not supposed to talk about your future but in this case - I can honestly say you'll never like doctors."_

_"If they didn't want me to know about my future, they wouldn't have brought me here. It's, kind of, cool that I'm a real lawyer and it's not surprising that I messed it up."_

Jessica shoves Danny's head off her shoulder and gives in to morning and sits up. Matt's perched on the counter in his kitchen and Claire is carefully removing his stitches over the healed wounds. "Who let you in?"

"Matty," Luke says, raising a mug as he steps into her line of sight. "He made coffee and everything."

"There's no milk and it's too early for anything else in the fridge. So coffee," Matt says. "I think I healed more last night."

"Looks like it," Jessica yawns. "How do you feel?"

"I remember more now," Matt replies.

Jessica rolls her arms until her shoulders pop and joined them at the counter. "Explain."

"I remember my first kiss. It was weird last night, but I get it now. I totally remember," he says reverently. "I'm not as depressed about my life being awful because I've met at least two and a half girlfriends that I'll get to know when I'm older."

"So, you slept through the night and had puberty?" Jessica blinks. She scans his bare chest and spots a few chest hairs and a couple of new scars. The hell?

"No, but I got a few more months of my memory back," Matt shrugs. "Means this is wearing off, right?"

"We should start a height chart," Danny says from the couch.

"Who's the half?" Luke asks, giving Claire a teasing look.

"I think her proper name is Nunya," Claire mutters and Luke's face lights up with delight at having the dirt.

Matt smiles after a moment. "Yeah. You should make another pot of coffee, I think we have more company. It's Mr. Nelson and a new lady. They really brought pancakes."

Jessica leans over to Claire. "Isn't the blonde another ex?"

"I don't have a wife or kids, do I?" Matt asks, chewing his bottom lip as Claire helps him into a shirt after finishing her work.

Foggy and Karen freeze in the doorway with their grocery bags. "Are we interrupting?"

"Yes, please continue the interruption - the punk knows too much already," Jessica says, swiping at his hair as he hops off the counter to avoid her hand.

 

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

_morning,_   
_it touches the nerves_   
_quickly_   
_as if we were already in the hunter's sights._

 

  
"Matty. I was, kind of, upset yesterday and made a crappy first impression. This is our friend, Karen, and she's lectured me at length so please, accept my apologies in the form of your favorite pancakes."

Jessica isn't sure the mercurial kid is amenable to bribes but he's visibly interested in the tray of stacked pancakes.

"Did I steal your girlfriend or something? Is that why you're mad at the grown up me? Or is it because I'm a bad lawyer and ruined our business?" Matt asks, folding his hands primly and raising his chin to mimic a challenge.

"He went through all his stuff while the adults were sleeping, he's a quick study," Claire snickers at Foggy and Karen's shocked expressions.

"You have stuff in my bathroom," Matt tells Karen. "But no dresses in the conquest closet."

"Quit while you're ahead, Matty, accept his apology and respect your elders," Luke ordered out between laughs.

"I didn't meet Adult Matt until college and we've been friends a long time. He definitely wouldn't like you talking about his ex-girlfriends or what may or may not be in his bathroom."

"You're deflecting the question," Matt says.

Karen moves forward and yanks him into a hug. "You are adorable and I just have to do this once."

"Stranger danger," Matt protests weakly. "I give up, thank you for the pancakes, please make it stop."

"Did he get older?" Foggy asks.

"We think so, he's got more memories," Jessica answers. "Hear anything from his weird spy friends?"

"I have never had that woman's number and I really hope she doesn't have mine," Foggy shivers.

Karen releases the kid with a flushed expression. "I can't even. What are we going to do with him?"

"We had a few ideas about that," Claire says, surprising Jessica. She missed that discussion.

But it's not like they're an actual 'team' or anything.

"Misty's, kind of, invested in all this since she lost an arm over it," Colleen says and Jessica feels slightly better at Danny's betrayed and confused expression.

"So, Matty needs a sitter for the immediate future and most of us have full time jobs and-or lives to deal with," Claire picks up. "Misty's willing to ignore his 'cosplay' habit and keep everything off the record and if she stays here for her initial recovery then it'll give me one stop shopping to help."

Colleen glances at Danny. "She has access to a lot of stuff we don't and we all want to make sure The Hand's really done. A few weeks off to research and hunt whoever's left while our two fallen allies lick their wounds."

Foggy shuffles doubtfully. "Matt would probably hate that."

"Matt isn't here right now and hopefully he'd prefer not to have to go to jail or get killed by dragon-hunters before he grows back," 'Matty' says, dabbing at his mouth. "If this lady lost her arm for the same reason that I'm suddenly in childhood purgatory then I hope Adult-Me would want to help make it right." Karen's face flashes with adoration and Matt raises his fork at her. "You have trouble recognizing personal space boundaries."

Claire sighs. "We can take shifts, Matty grew up here so we shouldn't let him walk the streets unattended. People could be looking for him. You two know the most about him now so if you could handle the calls and questions until he's full-size then we can handle the babysitting."

"The vigilantes make the mess and we clean it up," Karen shrugs. "Sounds legit."

Matt straightens. "Vigilante makes _so much more_ sense than what I was thinking."

"Sure you want to handle the babysitting?" Jessica snickers at Claire.

"It's a group effort," Claire grins at her.

"Because we were in the thick of the ninja mess, we'll be lying to a lot of cops for the next few days," Colleen says.

Foggy smiles widely. "That means you'll be right on time for the teenage years and we get the adorable years - this is a better plan."

 

* * *

 

"Hey, you're looking good for someone with 25% less limbs," Jessica greets Misty a few days later. She slept more than she deserved when she hadn't been arguing with cops.

Matt's on the cusp of fourteen or so and they're estimating he's gaining about six to nine months per sleep cycle but nobody's willing to induce a coma with drugs that seem to terrify him at all ages.

Misty actually looks like shit with the heavy bandages showing off her missing piece but her eyes are bright with amusement and not annoyance like her short visit at the hospital. "What are we doing?"

She nods her chin toward the bedroom where Danny and Matt are circling each other in the thoroughly trashed space. "They've been at it for over an hour, like tomcats." She offers Jessica a popcorn bowl.

"So you're okay with babysitting duty?" Jessica raises her feet onto the coffeetable and sinks into the couch.

"More like he's been babysitting me when he's not harassing Danny or talking religion with Luke," Misty replies. "You get out clean?"

"Better than expected but I'm not pushing my luck. How are you really doing?" Jess asks.

"I'm very pissed off. But I'm alive. It'll be a few weeks, minimum, before I'm off medical leave so helping Colleen track down immortal ninjas for future hunting is keeping me busy. Not to downplay the entertainment," she adds as Matt pounces on Danny's shoulders and uses his momentum to flip him backwards and slam him on the bed.

"Tag," Matt says.

"Is that how that's played?" Jessica snickers.

Misty takes the popcorn back. "You should have seen them playing Go Fish."

"He totally cheats," Danny announces, walking in with Matt hanging over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He drops him on the couch and Matt lets out a breathless giggle. "But I'm a man of my word and I'll have those books for you tonight, even though I'm sure you've already finished them and are an impatient little punk."

"Noted," Matt says. "Hey, Jessica. You took a shower and everything, I feel special."

"Hey, Matty. I didn't miss you at all," she replies, fist-bumping him.

"Awesome," he replies, scrambling off the couch and disappearing into the other room.

"Good luck. I'll be back late, he'll hear me if you're sleeping," Danny waves. She doesn't dislike the guy as much as she did last week. Ugh, she's not ready for this many new friends.

Matt returns with a prescription bottle and Misty makes a face but catches it when he tosses it to her. "Just antibiotics, not the pain ones like you said."

"You making deals with him, too?" Jessica asks Misty.

She shrugs. "I need to learn his negotiating tactics if I'm going to run into him as a grown up. Don't you dare step off the roof or out of the chalk boundaries Luke put up."

"Nobody will see me," Matt says, darting toward the stairs.

 

* * *

 

"How are you taller but weigh less?" Jessica asks when she scribbles today's stats down. She restrains the urge to poke him but lets the question hang in the air.

"It was a - it's not a good time," he says softly, fidgeting with his shirt until she reaches out to take his thin, bruised and scabbed fingers in her hand. "I started a fight."

"Did you win?" she asks, pushing his sleeve up impulsively until she can count fat fingermarks bruised into his pale wrists.

He shrugs. "Doesn't matter. He won't touch her again." Jessica hisses as Matt shakes her hands off and steps away. "I don't think I should talk about it. I don't think he talks about it."

"Okay," she agrees immediately. She isn't going to spill any of Murdock's secrets considering they're reliving his childhood vicariously with him. "But we need to map it on the age chart, do you have a reference point?"

"Sixteen, just got dismissed from the orphanage for drinking in the library and on my third placement - I got a call in to St. Agnes, though, just - put down sixteen and four months," he says. "Do I look presentable?"

She doesn't want to lie to the kid. "Lift up your shirt?" She regrets it immediately when the fingermarks on his wrists have a matching set on his hips and glimpses the heel of a bootprint before he drops the hem. "I can count your ribs."

"I'm not picky about food now. I'll eat whatever's available. At least that changes when I'm solo," he says.

"Layers. You want to stick with me this round? Misty won't mind," she offers.

He hesitates and she waits for him to put his memory in order. "No, I think we had plans. It'll be fine if she stays off my back about it."

Misty snickers from the doorway. "I can tell you're in a good mood. If you don't want to start with yoga, we can discuss."

"Do you need a day off?" Jessica asks under her breath.

"I need a bottle of whiskey and a time out," Matt snaps.

Misty clucks her tongue and walks over. "We're going to do the thing."

"I don't want to do the thing," Matt frowns sharply but Misty ignores him and pulls him into a one-armed hug.

Jessica's not the best lip-reader but she makes out 'skinny as shit' in Misty's silent words over his shoulder. But Matty slowly wraps his arms around Misty and deflates enough to count the TLC dose as delivered.

"Go start breakfast, they got you more of that fancy cheese and I'm craving an omelet. We won't even bitch about you having coffee," Jessica says. "Walk it off, Matty. There's a hoodie on the left arm of the couch."

Matt pulls away and hurries out of the room. "On it. Luke's here, I think he has food."

"Be nice," Misty warns but she hangs back to give Jessica a searching look. "Update?"

"I told him he didn't have to talk about it. He said it's not a good time. I don't think it's on the books," Jessica says. "Tread carefully."

 

* * *

 

"I don't remember 'this' when I'm asleep, it's my life - it's not like I'm just waiting it out 'there' to wake up here. I thought if I could just make it to sixteen then it would be - I could finally have my own life but - I'm still a blind orphan ward of the goddamn state," he hisses out suddenly. "I can't just pretend today. You think if I drink myself unconscious, I'll wake up a legal adult?"

"We already tried the thing, don't risk it," Misty warns Luke when he gets the 'imminent hug' look on his face.

Jessica pats the back of the couch, careful not to touch. She can't stop thinking about the bruises under his shirt. "Don't waste your vacation. You won't remember this when you get back to your teenage wasteland anyway so don't ruin it with a hangover."

"We'll head over to Colleen's and let you kick the crap out of Danny, that always cheers you up," Luke offers.

Matt clenches his fists. "Nah. I - I might hurt him today." He flops his head back dramatically. "I'm not an alcoholic when I grow up, am I?"

"Not to our knowledge. Danny's working on getting us a group rate for therapy after this, though," Luke adds, only half joking.

"Do you think I'm supposed to be learning something? Is that why this whole shit is taking so long?" Misty raises her bandaged half-arm and Matt sighs. "Sorry, I remember - if you had all the answers, you'd still have two arms."

"Looking after your Emo ass is keeping these punks off the streets so it's not as much of a problem for us as it is for you," Misty says. Jessica rolls her eyes but catches her point - Little Murdock is a distraction from the shit that's waiting in their real lives.

"I'm a little worried that we're the ones that are supposed to be learning something," Luke says. "When you're full-sized, we're all going to remember hanging out with you."

"I'm expecting all your legal referrals," Matt says dryly. "Foggy said he's working on a non-disclosure agreement but I'm more worried that I won't stop aging at the right time and I'll start to have future visions and get old." He raises his head and turns slightly toward her. "I might need some ice."

Jessica needs some for her upcoming drink and heads to the kitchen.

"I can't pull off yoga yet. We can do the playlist game, I'm a year older so I'm sure you have crappy music to tell me about," Matt says.

She brings the laptop, the coffeepot and a handful of icepacks back to the couch and hopes Misty and Luke can hold their questions and keep the mercurial devil settled.

"Thanks," Matt says while Misty and Luke work on the Spotify playlist. It had been Danny's idea to use popular music to keep track of where Matty is in his development and tether his 'sitters' to the right phase of history.

To Luke and Misty's credit, no one remarks on the wicked bootprint on his back but Matt sighs anyway. "Is it that bad?"

"No comment. Maybe don't start fights with guys that wear steel-toed boots, though," Luke says after a beat.

"Best outcome. You should have heard him telling the cops how a blind orphan broke his nose. I have no regrets, didn't even need to confess about it," Matt says evenly. "No comment, that works for me."

 

* * *

 

"Hey, can you go to the roof?" Matt asks Jessica softly since Misty had finally consented to a painkiller and conked out.

"Why?" she asks suspiciously.

He raises a hand to his ear. "Someone's out there asking for 'Double D'. Says he needs backup. Is that me?"

She opens her mouth to ask who else knows his identity but remembers. The kid doesn't know. _Shit_. "Stay here."

"I told you, didn't I? I'll stay," he snaps.

Huh. "You really did, didn't you? There's hope for you yet," she says, shrugging into her coat and using the 'adults only' roof access complete with a braille printed warning.

She hasn't been up here in a while - she doesn't have the 'night vision' or hearing required to get anything from it as a sightline considering the glaring billboards.

"Devil's unavailable," she says in a normal tone, wishing she'd asked if the bogie is actually on their roof or another one.

She spots movement and curses when she hears the 'thwip' warning of Spiderman a second before he perches on the edge of the roof. "Miss Jones? Is Double D all right?"

"He's under the weather. Aren't you out of your zone? Wait, never mind, I don't want to know if you assholes actually have the city divided up."

"Um. We're friends. Are you sure he's all right, because he would tell you," Spiderman asks with a head tilt that he could've learned from the blind asshole.

"Prove that you know him," Jessica challenges.

"It doesn't matter if he sees my face," Spiderman replies and she has to concede.

Jessica waves vaguely. "We had a whole ninja adventure a few weeks back, Devil got hit with some magic. You know anything about magic?"

"Shit, no, that's way out of my wheelhouse," Spiderman winces. "Anything I can do? He's been a little, extra solo lately."

"Aren't you on the Avengers payroll now?" She doesn't want anyone else getting caught up in Murdock's childhood rediscovery tour.

Spiderman shakes his head. "It's complicated, but no Accords for me. Matt and I talked it through, he helped me with some paperwork just in case of premature vigilante death and all that. Are you sure I can't just step in and say hello?"

"Got a cop friend recovering here, too," Jessica says and that shuts him down. "Matt's not totally himself. I'm sure he's snooping, but it's a little tricky at the moment for entertaining guests."

Matt steps out of the doorway in one of Luke's tank-sized hoodies. "Have you been calling Foggy?"

"Whoa. No, I know better than that - but Aunt May asked about you a couple of times, she saw something on the news that spooked her," Spiderman says. "You got hit with a kid spell? Those things are real?"

"Apparently," Jessica says, looping her arm around Matt to keep him out of reach of the strange superhero. "Why would your Aunt care?"

Spiderman hesitates, glances at Matt and then peels his mask back enough to show his face. His very _young_ face. "Matt helped us with the legal paperwork and my aunt worries about him. You haven't really been doing that well lately and you were supposed to meet your bro to talk weeks ago and she - I'll make sure she backs off. She doesn't know about your night gig."

"Did you need help with something?" Matt asks. Jessica glares at him.

"You're not going out with him," she says.

"Right, Big-You said he didn't start until he was in his twenties, he would totally not approve," Spiderman agrees. "And I didn't really _need_ backup, I just wanted to check in, my patrol's done for the night."

"Danny's going to be so jealous, he's obsessed with you," Matt tells Spiderman.

"Who's Danny? When did you make new friends? Are they keeping you against your will?" Spiderman asks suddenly.

Jessica cuts her eyes at him sharply. "Don't even think about spraying me with your web gunk. We all got mixed up in the same ninja apocalypse. Matty has dangerous exes."

"Yeah, he never really got over Elektra's death. I want to help, tell me how I can help, Miss Jones," Spiderman says.

"It should be temporary. I get a little older every time I sleep but it's taking forever," Matt complains. "They won't let me drink or go outside or do anything cool."

He isn't convincing since he's still halfway cuddled under her arm and Spiderman laughs warmly. "I'm going to come by tomorrow and introduce myself as Mr. Murdock's precocious intern and you will let me in to hang out."

"I can agree to those terms but we really do have a cop staying here, so definitely don't bring your ID with you," Jessica says.

"Deal." Spiderman pulls his mask back on. "I finally have the skillset to help you out, Double D - I am an expert at being a moody teenager with poor social habits."

"Your aunt won't come snooping around?" Jessica asks.

"Ew, no, I wouldn't give up his address like that. My aunt would send him fruit baskets all the time - he's single and nice and she is _totally_ not allowed to talk to him without supervision, big or small. Don't grow too much," Spiderman waves and 'thwicks' into the shadows.

"It should be comforting that I'm a really hot grown up but it's getting ridiculous," Matt says. "I didn't hit on you as an adult, did I?"

"You're not that hot," Jessica says, steering him back to the stairs.

"I do like fruit baskets," he hums, matching her steps.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Title and chapter tags belong to Charles Bukowski.
> 
>  


End file.
